


Irresponsibility

by YellowAndVeritablyBonaFide



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Cute, Fluff, M/M, parent!merthur, their son gets drunk, they are good dads, they talk about responsibility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-20 19:43:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21287147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowAndVeritablyBonaFide/pseuds/YellowAndVeritablyBonaFide
Summary: Arthur and Merlin’s son gets brought home by police in the middle of the night after they found him drinking in a field with strangers
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 93





	Irresponsibility

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I’m not normally a fan of parent!merthur but someone in my class got arrested because he got caught drinking at a party and I think that’s hilarious.
> 
> I would like to point out that in England kids can drink in houses if their parents consent :)

“How irresponsible do you have to be!” Arthur yells. “What am I supposed think when you turn up at fuck o’clock in the morning with a police officer behind you and alcohol on your breath!”

Theodore sits on the sofa and takes his father’s wrath. Merlin has him bundled up in his arms, trying to comfort him. He wholeheartedly agrees with Arthur but can’t stand to shout (he hates shouting in general but decides he needs to let Arthur’s ire run its course).

“You’re lucky your dad is here because otherwise I might not have been able to keep so calm when the police officer was telling me he caught you drinking with some strange men!” Arthur continues - he’s so scared of what might have become of his son if the police officer had decided to charge him. “You’re fifteen! You should be playing football not drinking. You have loads of time to do stupid stuff like that; just live your childhood like a child.”

Arthur stops in front of his son, obviously done for now - having gotten what he wanted off his chest. Merlin takes the opportunity to speak.

“What your father means is that: you can drink.” Merlin eyes Arthur as his eyebrows shoot up and he throws his hands up in the air in exasperation. Arthur knows not to question Merlin, though. “But you have to drink responsibly.” Merlin turns his gaze from his husband to his son. “That means: with us or with a small group of friends in a house where you are safe. That does not mean in a field in the middle of nowhere with strangers much older than you.”

Theodore nods, keeping his eyes down but glancing up at his father when he crouches by the two on the sofa. “You need to be careful, okay? It’s because we love you that we must berate you. Those people in that field -“ Arthur gestures towards an abstract field. “Their parents don’t love them enough to tell them to be responsible. You don’t want to be friends with them.”

“I agree.” Merlin nods in affirmation. “Hell, I’ll even buy you alcohol to share with your friends as long as you’re up in your room, being safe.”

Arthur opens his mouth to object, but Merlin shoots him down with a look. Arthur sends a short playful glare to his partner then lifts his hand to stroke Theo’s hair. Theo has tears in his eyes - a quiet, emotional drunk - and he sniffs.

“I’m sorry.” He whispers. He coughs slightly. “I won’t do that again. I’ll be more responsible.”

“That’s right.” Arthur smiles, his voice soft and loving. “Now, come on. We should get to bed.”

Arthur stands up, a little stiff, and helps Theo off the sofa. Merlin stands up behind them and goes to the kitchen to refill the water they gave Theo earlier. Arthur leads Theo to the stairs and carefully helps his son to the second floor. Merlin hops up behind them, glad not to have missed putting his baby to bed. 

They manage their way to Theo’s bedroom and get him into bed.

“Goodnight, little explorer.” Arthur chuckles, smoothing away the dried tear marks on his son’s cheeks.

Merlin gently sits himself on the bed, puts the glass on the bedside table, and leans over to kiss Theo’s forehead. They’d not done this since Theo was about nine and he often finds himself reminiscing. “Night, Teddy. We’re gonna talk about this more in the morning, but for now get some sleep.” He smiles, getting up and following Arthur out the door. Merlin glances backwards to see their son already asleep, smiles, then flicks the light off and closes the door.

They walk back to their bedroom in silence. Merlin brushes Arthur’s hand with his and Arthur takes it; claiming it with a kiss. “We’re really good parents.” Arthur whispers.

Merlin holds back a snort as he pushes open their bedroom door while looking back at his husband. “I get it from my mother, I don’t know where you get it from.” He laughs cheekily. It’s only a few hours until sunrise so his brain is still loose from tiredness.

Arthur rolls his eyes, grinning. “I get it from trying to be every bit unlike my father.” He gets into bed, his side gone cold from the time it took to get everything with the police sorted.

Merlin gets in and cuddles up to him immediately. “Well, it’s working.” He places kisses on Arthur’s neck. “Y’know... you’re kinda hot when you’re angry.” He giggles, pushing his face into Arthur’s neck and half laying on top of him.

Arthur turns the bedside lamp off and they cuddle up in the dark room.

Arthur sighs a smile. “I’m sorry. I know you don’t like shouting but I had to get the point across.” He cards through Merlin’s hair distractedly. “Where did we go wrong with him? Did I do something that led him to drinking in a field in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of stoner thirty year olds?”

Merlin nuzzles away the tension in Arthur’s jaw. “No, baby. Teenagers will be teenagers. They’re reckless. You remember when you were fifteen, right?”

“You didn’t know me when I was fifteen,” Arthur states softly. “For all you know, I could have been a saint.”

Merlin laughs unabashedly at that. “Oh, Arthur. You do know that I’ve spent more than five minutes with Morgana. She was absolutely bursting to tell me that you... set fire to your dad’s tree - was it?” His eyes track Arthur’s blushing face and averted eyes. “Oh! That’s right. You saw your dad putting magazines in there, found them, saw it was porn, stole them then burnt the tree down so he wouldn’t notice someone took them.”

“I’m going to kill Morgana.” Arthur grounds out gruffly.

Merlin soothes him by tracing shapes on his chest - primarily love hearts because, as Arthur so rightly points out, Merlin is approximately six years old.

Arthur grumbles to himself for a moment. “Well, Will has told me stories about you, too!” 

His face is alight with a smile and Merlin might appreciate it more if he wasn’t so brutally aware of what Arthur was going to say next.

“Don’t say it.” Merlin whispers, fully hiding his face in Arthur’s shoulder.

Arthur smirks, “When you were sixteen, didn’t you...” 

“Don’t say it.”

”Didn’t you have a dick-pic mafia?” Arthur laughs.

“You said it.” Merlin sighs then sits up.

Arthur also sits up and presses his back against the headboard, pulling Merlin to lie at his side. 

“Will said you got sent so many dick-pics that you saved their names and got them to do your bidding or else you’d send the pictures to their mums.” Arthur chuckles. Merlin feels it against his chest. “But you didn’t even save the pictures!”

Merlin cuts in then. “No, because that’s a criminal offence.”

“Oh and blackmail isn’t?” Arthur jests.

Merlin huffs but smiles. “Yeah, I mean I do get a little nervous around police officers now. But I think it’s a less punishable crime to be honest. I only made them buy me sweets and lunch and stuff. I made them beat up my bullies.” Merlin admits.

Arthur strokes down Merlin’s side; his hand dips in and follows down at his waist. Merlin’s curves are his most favourite thing about Merlin from an aesthetic point of view. Well, that and his cheekbones and his ears and... well, everything really. But he fucking loves those curves.

When Arthur hears about what people did to Merlin when he was younger, his heart physically hurts. He so wishes he could have been there to destroy anyone who lay a finger on him. But he knows that if they had met sooner than university they wouldn’t be together. Arthur was a very different persona back then. He had more hormones than sense and would probably have picked on his ears or his clumsiness to try and flirt with him. And, from what Merlin’s told him, he probably would have cursed him out and never spoken to him again. 

Arthur laughs all the same, though, not willing to give up this moment just yet. ”And there was one poor fellow who decided to not buy you lunch one day?” He questions, not quite sure if he’s remembering Will’s words correctly. Merlin’s blush tells him he is. “Then you told his mum about the pictures and that you were so horrified and appalled that you might never see again.”

“He deserved it. I had a test that day and I didn’t have any lunch money.” He grumbles. “I would like to point out that his mum fucking loved me since I used to volunteer at the library she managed.”

Arthur chuckles then. “Librarian by day, dick-pic mafia don by night.”

Merlin smiles despite himself and lightly thumps Arthur’s chest. It makes a hollow sound beneath the taut muscle; yet another reminder of how fit Arthur is.

“Mmm,” Merlin hums sleepily. “If you don’t buy me lunch tomorrow, I’ll tell Morgana you send me dick-pics.” He kisses Arthur’s neck lazily to let him know he’s joking.

Arthur chuckles. “Fine. But I’ll tell your mum how filthy you can be over texts.”

“It’s not my fault I think sexting is hot.” Merlin smiles, eyes finally drooping closed again. 

“Oh, sexting is definitely hot with you.” Arthur agrees. “You little vixen.”

Arthur settles down again, pulling Merlin to his chest tighter. They’ll have to have a proper talk with Theo in the morning - one about responsibility and all that jazz. It would stress Arthur out more if he wasn’t so tired. Morning Arthur can deal with it. Night Arthur can sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Quick question!
> 
> What do you guys think about cgl or ddlb? There’s almost none in the Merlin fandom but I’ve read it in other fandoms and I think it’s really rather lovely.
> 
> I only ask because I have a mini-series idea that involves femboy!Merlin and daddy!arthur which I think will be really cute but I don’t want it to go down like a lead balloon :/ some chapters will have maybe daddy kink smut I guess and I know that a lot of people think it’s disgusting so I don’t want to put my work out there and for it to be rejected.
> 
> If you could tell me what you think of it that would be really helpful - comment if you like it or even if you don’t like it or if you don’t really have an opinion :)
> 
> Thank you for reading my work so far! And I want to put out other stories that you’ll like because I want to make you guys happy :D


End file.
